We had this cheese in Paris earlier this year and fell in love with it, recently I had the craving for it again but could not find in my local cheese store (Grande). I'm wondering if anyone has seen any store carrying it? (preferrably in the uptown area)

thanks for the reply, while doing research, I got the wine choices from this article (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06... , 2nd paragraph under Tender Crabs), plus there will be 2 fois gras dishes that night too so I'd assume a sweet wine would be a matching choice.

For Burg and Bord do you have any specific village/chateau/domaine you can reccommend?

It's my gf's birthday next week and I want to treat her something special. I am wondering if you fellow chowhounds can come up with some good suggestions, here's the criteria:

1) she doesn't eat meat (seafood is okay though), so I am looking for a place w/ a good vegetarian/seafood menu.Even better if there's a restaurant that specializes a good tasting menu for her preference.

2) looking for a bistro/fine dining type of setting, we don't want sushi bar in this occasion. Good decor/atmosphere a plus.

I understand the frustration.. I used to get ripped off alot before I learned about wine. Now I only order wines that I cannot get from the LCBO, or I go to restaurants that have cheap/free corkage fee (nota bene after 9 for example).

or you can become a frequent diner, develop a good relationship with one restaurant. Tip the server well, and they'll remember you the 3rd or 4th time you visit. I've gotten corkage fee waived, discount on wine, even free sample in my local italian restaurant.

I usually buy $20 wines at LCBO so the price difference compared to US may only be a few dollars, and I took alot of their vintage magazines to offset for the extra cost, their paper bags are free too and they're good for scooping cat litter :) . At LCBO we may get hit on high tax, but at least their prices are honest. I once saw a Ravenswood zinfandel marked $35 in a supermarket in Washington, which only cost us $19 here.

I know what you mean there, one time I saw someone was looking for this wine in the store but the staff could not find the stock at all, double checked everything and ended up finding 2 cases at the back of the shelf

I am in the middle camp, I've read alot about the wine but were always hesitant to try one because of its price/origin

If that 05 Margaux disappeared from the shelf in the Woodbine/Hwy 7 store, I would assume that it's you who bought it :P its been sitting there for more than a year.

I would strongly recommend getting a copy of Food & Wine Magazine''s Wine Guide 2011. You can easily find one in Chapter's/Indigo or other newstands, gives you basic info on every major wine region which is easier to digest for a beginner, also teaches you to read different wine labels and introduces you the more well-known producers. It only costs around $10, pocket sized so you can carry it around on the train or use it as a "cheat sheet" when you go wine shopping.

If you're having problems to select a wine in the future, grab yourself a vintage magazine (available free from LCBO, or view at www.vintages.com). Lots of new releases biweekly, skip the scores/ratings, go straight to the tasting notes and you'll learn fast.

I go there for a cigar every week in the summer time, but only dined there twice. First time I ordered fries w/ three-cheese and a lamb rack and they were exceptionally good. However I didn't had much luck w/ the burger in my second visit, as it was very dry and overcooked. I'd say the service is top-notch, the waitresses can remember my name the second time and brought me a cigar astray without asking.